The present invention relates to a method of producing and/or processing, as well as winding, an endless material of thermoplastic material, and more particularly, to a method of the kind referred to wherein signals are produced which are representative of the quality of the endless material.
In the context of texturizing yarn, such a method has been generally described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,702 to Martens, issued Jan. 19, 1988, (European Patent Specification 0 207 471). As disclosed in the prior patent, indications of the quality of the package or yarn produced are derived from quality parameters which do not relate directly to the actual measurements. This known method has been successfully applied in connection with yarns textured by a false twist texturing method.
Endless material, as understood herein, relates to yarns, ribbons, tapes, films, and foils. Endless materials of this kind are characterized in that they are produced by continuous operations or that they require continuous processing, with a plurality of packages being sequentially produced from the endless strand.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus of the described type, and more particularly a method and apparatus for winding smooth yarns, such as, in particular, yarns spun from fibers produced as endless synthetic filaments and wound up in spinning machines, with a value representative of the quality of the final product being continuously derived, and so as to permit classification of the final product and/or process control.